25 YEARS AGO

September 1, 1976 Rep. Wayne Hays, chairman of the House Ways and Means committee, resigns after his affair with a staff member is revealed.

September 16, 1976 The U.S. Episcopal Church votes to allow the ordination of women.

September 20, 1976 Playboy releases an interview in which Jimmy Carter, the Democratic candidate for President, admits having “committed adultery in my heart many times.”

50 YEARS AGO

September 8, 1951 In San Francisco, 49 nations sign a treaty restoring full sovereignty to Japan.

75 YEARS AGO

September 18, 1926 A devastating hurricane hits Florida, killing 372 people, destroying 5,000 homes, and putting a serious dent in the Florida land boom.

September 23, 1926 In Philadelphia, Jack Dempsey loses his heavyweight boxing title to Gene Tunney.

100 YEARS AGO

September 2, 1901 In a speech at the Minnesota state fair, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt quotes what he says is an African proverb: “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”

September 7, 1901 China agrees to pay $333 million to indemnify the United States and five other nations for damage inflicted in the anticolonial Boxer Rebellion.

September 14, 1901 President William McKinley dies after having been shot in Buffalo, New York, a week earlier. Theodore Roosevelt succeeds him as President.

225 YEARS AGO

September 16, 1776 Continental troops led by George Washington hold off the British at the Battle of Harlem Heights in New York City.

September 22, 1776 Nathan Hale, a spy for the rebellious colonists, is hanged after saying, “I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”